/lit/ - Literature

Yes

you should take your mom to a library

Important to whom?

>>2037180

I'm asking you guys the question so obviously I want to hear your opinions and hopefully the reasonings along with them.

>>2037184
But in what sense important? socially important? personally important? important in the eyes of god? do you really want some bland uninformative opinion what what is "important" in some vague sense of visceral meaning? what's the point?

I think long-lasting is more important.
Because obviously the family structure, love and feelings are just there for humanity's survival, a tool for social cohesion, so it's not really fundamental; they are worth nothing in themselves beside the pleasure we get from them. And pleasure is not worth much, there are plenty of animals experiencing it already. As humans, the most intelligent species around here, it's logical that we ought to fight for something higher than mere pleasure; like art and science. Discovering, understanding, enhancing the universe. It's our task and responsibility.

I don't think an author is capable of making a lasting impact without first experiencing life.

>>2037187

I'm asking what you think about the subject. It is obviously more personally important to spend time with your mother. But is it more important than say developing a space probe, or some other means of engraving your name in history? There are obvious pros and cons of each; I'm asking what you think is more important.

I think long-lasting is more important as a 'goal in life'.
But on the other hand, social experiance is something you need. You need experiance.
Also you only have one mother or family, once they are gone, they are gone. They aren't there forever and you can't pretend they will be. You can write all day long on only bother with sience and literature, but one day, the people who should be most important in your life, who did the most for you (implying you have good parents and an overall loving family), are simply gone.
And then you most likely will be mad at yourself for not spending time with them when you could.

So yeah, even though you said no middle answers, I think its the only possible answer for this question.

Sure it is fucking awesome to do something that is long-lasting and that people will still read and look up to in a few hundred years. But does that make you happy while you are alive? Do you have no regrets when your parents are dead and you know you didn't spend time with them once you moved out? What will you do when the same thing happens to you once you are old?

>>2037197

Yes, but your mother is only one out of literally billions. You are nothing, with the potential of becoming something, and indulging in the now seems to me to be somehow selfish.

Does being happy in this lifetime matter? It seems very selfish to answer yes because you are taking away from the rest of humankind what you could have accomplished and what could have been.

Unfortunately this train of thought takes me to the future. What will we do when all innovations have been created, all thoughts written, all music recorded, all galaxies explored? Then, will the rest of humankind spend their lives indulging in their own lives, partying, spending time with mom and dad, living in a state of perpetual hedonism? Is this what we want?

Anyway, that's just my two cents. Discuss more.

>>2037208

I know what you mean with 'doing' something with your life and doing something for mankind.
But can you simply live without social interaction? You know what I mean, I am probably way to extreme right now, but can you spend your whole life without for example looking for a wife or a family? I am by no means a social person, but I still enjoy it to spend time with my best friends and am happy everytime I can actually meet with them (living in different parts of the country, so I can't see them on a daily basis). I think I would kinda break, without seeing them for the rest of my life (still being extreme here).

Also, I kinda deem it necessary to be there for my mother. She was a very good mother, so I kinda want to give something back to here. She is responsible for who I am today (at least partways).
And I also would feel pretty damn guilty knowing that I wouldn't have done anything for her.

So yeah, what I am saying is, long-lasting stuff is more important for humanity as a whole, you help your species to get forward and you make something of yourself, you 'create' something that lasts even after you are gone. On the other hand, sure my mother is only one in billions, but that one person is the person that I grew up with and was there for me.

On your point about everything being created. I seriously doubt, there will be an end to the creation of things. I just think there is always something new you can create. Even if its useless stuff, there are always new ideas. Just think about cars for a stupid example. We have absolutely fine cars. Sure there have been a lot of improvements technically, but most of the improvements are kinda like "Oh well we added this feature, we changed the design and what not", but the simple performance of a car doesn't improve that much over the course of new models.

>>2037222 cont

Another thing you said would be the exploration of the universe, that is something that could be ture. There could be a time, when everything is explored.
The the last thing, you were talking about: art. I don't really think there will be a time when no new books are written or new music is done. Simply because its 'art' and creativity. Something that comes out of the human mind. There are so many books written, there is a shit load of books about crime and revenge, dramas and what not. Still year after year new books get published with plots that have been done thousands of times before.
I honestly think art is something that will never be 'done'.

>>2037222
>>2037223

I was also exaggerating when I said all inventions, etc. have been created. What I meant was when people no longer need to worry about food, housing, or clothing, when food production and health maintenance is automated and people are born into the world purely for their own enjoyment of it. Obviously the "jobs" (more like hobbies, since people would no longer need to work) of that time will simply be art and literature because engineers and others will no longer be needed, but will people force themselves to think, draw, or write, or will they simply become hedonists, ignoring the challenge and indulging in the now?

As for the feeling guilty thing, it entirely depends on if your mother understands or not. It depends on the mother.
You would still have human interaction, just not the same fun as that of romantic comedies you see at the theater.

Most of this is speculation, and in fact the entire thought of this is actually really depressing because we'll never even come close to seeing or experiencing any of it lol.

Why does something long lasting matter when you're six feet under and not around to appreciate the fact that it might be long lasting after your death?

If has impact during your life, then perhaps that is good, but it boils down to the kind of person you are. Whether you'd view a good life as a "successful" one in that sense.

The most productive, meaningful, important thing you can do is to go completely insane.

I am >>2037222 >>2037223

>>2037240

Well it solely depends on the person, that is sure. For me for example its just something I wanna do. I want to make something that will people make me remember. I want to be someone who people think about in a few hundred years. Its probably just stupid wishfull thinking, because most likely I will never be able to write something of any meaning, but I can try.
Also I can't really say why I want to do it, like you said, if you are dead, you are dead.
The best reason I can give you is, that I want to reach a certain publicity or get known in my lifetime. So when I am old, I can look back at my life and at the work I did and think for myself, that I did something that was worth it. That I created something that was woth it, in the 70 years I spend on this planet. Or lets say, that my life wasn't actually completely meaningless.

Neither is more 'important'. It's personal preference of the individual.

Both are a result of awareness of mortality.

>>2037270

Ernest Becker much

You define what matters and what doesn't, and if you choose that other peoples opinion matter, well... why?

Of course you can do whatever you want to, but isn't peace of mind everyones wish? Shouldn't we all purse this?

Why are you searching for a higher truth or ultimate goal? It is, in my opinion, as stupid as searching for god. There's no indication that it exists.

Personal experience is a thing of past, we romanticeze about it or whatever, but it can't produce long lasting happiness. Neither can pursuing something that will last long and be impactful. This a thing of future.

I'd say the answer is in the middle, in the now. Both spending time with your mother and contributing to science or literature (as anything else) can bring you peace of mind as long as your are not empty minded and you are focusing on what you are doing.

"Soon you will have forgotten the world, and soon the world will have forgotten you. "

>>2037189

This.

And also, who actually cares? Dwelling on useless questions like OP's won't emerge with any great result that is "long lasting and impactful" or personally beneficial.

Whatever makes you content.
Stop asking stupid questions and do something.

>>2037415

This.

In several thousand years, there's almost no chance you'll be remembered for doing "something long-lasting and impactful", and there's absolutely no chance your family will remember all the time you spent with them. Do whatever the fuck you want; it doesn't matter.

>>2037458

>crawlinginmyskin.jpg